Want To Delete Your Facebook Account? It’s Not As Easy As You Think

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Facebook’s “emotion experiment” angered some of its users so much, they considered deleting their accounts, but that’s easier said than done.

It’s more difficult than you think to delete your Facebook account, and Mashable’s social media reporter Kurt Wagner says you should think long and hard before clicking delete.

“People who have been on Facebook a long time forget how much information they really have in their profile,” he said. “A lot of it is information that you’d probably want to keep in some way shape or form.”

He recommends downloading a copy of your Facebook data which includes your photos, videos, and posts.

You should also turn off linked apps.

“What Facebook recommends is to reach out to these apps individually and request that they remove any data they’ve collected from you via Facebook”

And deletion is not the same as deactivation.

“Deactivation is kind of a cheaters way of quitting Facebook because in the back of your mind you always know that you can come back and restore your profile in the way that it existed before you jumped off.”

Facebook’s Data Use Policy says it takes about 30 days to delete your account, but some information may remain in backup copies for up to 90 days.